Oversize Load Chases Traffic from I-24 in Kentucky

If you had to use US 62 from Exit 40 to Exit 27 between Eddyville and Calvert City, here's the reason why.

By any chance were you traveling westbound on I-24 in western Kentucky on Wednesday, only to be waved off the interstate and onto a paralleling highway for about 13 miles?

The reason is shown in the photo: That's an eastbound oversize load crossing the I-24 Tennessee River Bridge using the westbound lanes. The state's Department of Transportation had to let the heavy-haul rig use "your" lanes because the load couldn't squeeze by some maintenance equipment on eastbound span.

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Lack of clearance was discovered Wednesday morning as the load, a large boiler weighing over 400,000 pounds on a 24-foot-wide platform trailer, was moving toward it. It was en route from Tennesee to a site in Ohio.

This morning several agencies scrambled to assist the carrier, Diamond Heavy Haul Inc., of Bowling Green, according to a media advisory issued by DOT.

"After consulting with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers, Kentucky State Police, and KSP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, plans were worked out to close a 13-mile section of I-24 for about an hour and allow the truck to cross over to the westbound lanes where it traveled eastbound for about 3 miles," the advisory said.

"The maneuver required westbound I-24 traffic to be detoured along US 62 from Exit 40 to Exit 27 between Eddyville and Calvert City.

"The eastbound lanes were also closed for a short time to allow the truck to cross through the median for the short 3-mile jog to the next crossover, where it returned to the eastbound lanes near the I-24 Cumberland River Bridge.

"As it continued on eastward along I-24, the superload and escort caravan backed up traffic," the advisory said. "The huge truck had to slow to a crawl when it crossed bridges or went under an overpass.

"The truck [trailer] hauling the huge load had 18 axles and a rear steering unit to help it make the required turns. The superload exited off I-24 at Cadiz to take US 68 East around Hopkinsville and on toward Bowling Green."

Subsequent planned routing was north on I-65 to Elizabethtown; east on the Bluegrass Parkway; and north on US 127 to Frankfort.

From there, it planned to follow I-64 east to I-75 north and cross the Ohio River at Cincinnati, then to its final destination in Ohio. The caravan planned to stop in Cave City tonight.